My Life in La Paz, Honduras by Makayla

Today we went into Cane and San Sebastian to fix their water systems,but we had a few problems and had to wait. A typical day in Honduras,waiting and being flexible. This is us enjoying our time off and bonding :)

This is a place for children who have families, but their families cannot afford to take care of them or choose not to. This place is called Hogar de ninos. There are a lot of kids there and people that take care of them.

Next we went to a place that holds people who have special needs. This was a great experience for all of us. They just came up to you and hugged you. They just wanted to hang out and they loved hand sanitizers on their feet and hands!

 

Finally we went to a place where young girls have been abused or raped by their dads,step dads,or brothers. There are 12 girls there and the youngest girl is 13. They are all mothers and have babies. It was something we all won't forget. The mothers were shy and not sure what was going on. This place really touched us as a group.  

This is Chelsey playing with the little girl at the mothers home :) They were so sweet even if none of them could speak English!

This is our group picture at the mother/childern home:) They liked pictures! 

We got to play soccer with the moms at the home. They were really good, but we mixed up teams and we had fun trying to understand each other languages. After we left there we went  back to our house and ate dinner and prepared for a days work tomorrow! We love you guys and miss you!

My Life in La Paz, Honduras by Nathan

Yesterday the whole group attended La Cosecha's church service. Even though during the songs we couldn't understand the lyrics, just seeing the people praising the Lord in their own language was really an amazing thing for all of us to experience.

 This morning we all woke up to a breakfast of cheese quesadillas, oranges, and guava; then we went straight to Cadin which is the after school building that kids from the community go to on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  After we finished building tables and painting the whole building, it looked amazing.

We were brought bags containing some kind of drink that as you can tell by my face, was not too tasty.

Before

After

Now we are back chillin at the house hanging out and talking about all the fantastic ways God is working through this trip not only to change the lives of others, but us as well.

There is a good story though, that I almost left out. Last night when returning home from church the girls decided that they were going to pig out and eat all of our leftovers for dinner without leaving the guys any, so then Terry decides that if they're gonna eat all the food than the guys will just go down a few blocks to get some Honduran tacos. The girls quickly realized that we weren't kidding when they saw us pulling out of the driveway and heading down the road. The rest of that night is only for the guys to know about.

Keep the prayers coming! Everything is great, to God be the glory!

My Life in La Paz, Honduras by Brooke

 

 After a long day building tables and meeting new friends we learned how to make pupusa's. Antonieta sells these pupusa's on Friday and Saturday night to send her kids to college.

This morning we woke up to a traditional Honduras breakfast. The breakfast had eggs, plantains, sour
cream and tortillas. We all also tried the coffee that was very good!

                                                                                This morning we went to the market, and we shopped for about an hour. While shopping at the market Micah found a soccer jersey but it was way over priced. The lady that had the soccer jersey said even though he didn't buy the jersey he was still really cute. After shopping in the market we went to the San Jose orphanage in La Paz. We took the kids at the orphanage pipe cleaners, crayons, and coloring pages. They loved playing and making things with the pipe cleaners. The little boys were also very excited when all three of the boys built a little ramp with dirt. They started taking their bikes and little cars and driving over it.

We all love and  miss you all so much!
See you all soon!

My Life in La Paz, Honduras by Chelsey
   
  After a good flight and shopping at Valle de Angeles we headed towards La Paz. There were some crazy drivers and lots of traffic so the trip took about 3 hours. Once we got to the house we settled in, ate some delicious Honduran pizza, and then headed to bed. This morning we had some pancakes and then headed to the church La Cosecha to build and paint the tables. The first injury of the trip occurred there when Mrs. Gibson hit my thumb with a hammer, but all the tables got done and look really good. Then we rode in the back of the pastors truck to El Feltro to play with the kids. They were all so precious, but it was quite a shock to see the conditions they lived in. Even though there was a little language issue we could still tell how sweet they are. Leaving was difficult, but we look forward to the rest of the week. For dinner we're gonna make some pupusas with a lady in La Paz and help her sell some. We all love and miss you guys!

By the way, my finger is ok :)

By the way... the "rumor is" that the electricity is supposed to be out starting early tomorrow morning. We do not know how long the electricity will be out (full day, half day)... It's Honduras and anything can happen. Do not get alarmed if we cannot post any posting tomorrow evening. Chances are it will only last a half day but who needs electricity when its 85 degrees and sunny!

Tomorrow's schedule: Visit with the El Feltro Compassion International kids (~70) and then off to La Cosecha to build tables (with saws if no electricity... hehe) and then paint them. Dinner we will be learning how to make Pupusas (kind of like grill corn flour with lots of cheese inside) with Antonieta (local resident who sell these to pay for her children's education) and then helping her sell them!

We have arrived... safely! A bit tired and getting ready to some true Honduran pizza. More to follow tomorrow.

More pictures from packing day...

Nathan and Micah making sure all the beanie babies are packed... and getting a little side-tracked in the meantime! 

Team lunch with students and the families!